Final Projects

Hey Folks!
I hope you are working hard on your final projects. If you need any help during this last week of Winter Break, send me an email: daulik@madison.k12.wi.us

Remember that we will regroup on the projects and focus on the PowerPoints the week following Break. I will be available for full assistance on Monday and Tuesday, but I will be at an inservice on W,Th,F. Please plan accordingly.

I am looking forward to the project presentations staring on January 10th.

2010-11 School Year

Starting in the 2010-2011 academic year, this class curriculum will be spread over three quarters (second, third, and fourth). This change will allow for deepening the curriculum even more than this year. We will also have more time to devote to each quarter's final project, allowing more in-class reading and research time. The course will further emphasize a foundation of information literacy using the topic of motion picture history.

Cinema Due Dates

Project Resource #1 -- Due Wed., May 5
Project Resource #2 -- Due Monday, May 10
Project Resources #3&4 in Sources list -- Due Monday, May 17
Project Outlines -- Due Wed., May 19
Projects Due May 28
Presentations begin June 1

Other small assignments will be required along the way.

What assignments am I missing?

A few students are missing the following assignment:

PowerPoint Slides on the 1950s. (Get these in as soon as possible, so we can show the PowerPoint presentation in class.)

Final Projects

We are reaching the end of the quarter. Your final curiosity research projects are due on Thursday, March 18.

Also due this week:

• Wednesday, March 17 -- Outline for Project Presentation / Paper / Zine

• Wednesday, March 17 -- Rough Bibliography (must have at least 4 resource citations)

Friday, March 19 -- Absolute Deadline for all Work and Projects -- No work accepted after this date.

Due this Week -- March 1-5

• Read the handouts on Film & Sound -- take notes (your own style)
• Define your final project topic / question / articulation format -- contract due Tuesday, March 2
• Begin your own research on your topic
  
• Review Film Timeline -- 1930s
• Watch and discuss Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Student Curiosity Questions #1

Students generated the following Curiosity Questions while viewing Martin Scorsese's Personal Journey Through American Movies.

• How did Scorsese’s childhood environment influence his film (directorial) style?
• How did the different studio styles affect Scorsese and other industry stakeholders?
• How did other art forms affect Scorsese (and other industry stakeholders)?
• How did politics affect directors’ throughout hard economic and war-torn times?
• What are culturally-correct films?
• What tools were involved/used in the process of making film?
• Are feature films made up of thousands/millions of photos put together?
• What does it mean to embrace the technology as it appears?
• Is one’s creative genius embraced or denied when working in Hollywood?
• How did Scorsese decide to become a movie critic?
• Did color film take away from the “art” of black and white movies?
• Why were studios in the 1930s afraid of breaking awy from their formulas and story content?
• What kind of movies (genres) were the most popular throughout the decades, and how does that correlate to what was going on in history during the time?
• How did power in the movie industry shift away from the producers?
• How did the iconoclasts of the early years of movie making influence the industry?
• How did the growth of film affect the need for jobs in the industry?
• How did camera manipulation and tech. advances change film?
• What different camera shot styles were typically used and for what effect (in a given film, genre, or time period)?
• Why did MGM, Paramount, and Warner Brothers force directors and producers to fit the style of the company? Why were rebels punished so severely?
• How has “movie language” evolved over time?
• How and why did computers become involved in movie making?
• How does one take the risk of inserting innovative camera technology, style, or language?
• How did large corporations take over the film industry?
• What role did music play in the development of film?
• Who makes the decisions about color, music, or other technological features in a film?
• How and when did non-white, non-mainstream actors enter the film industry? Who were the break-through artists? How and when did non-mainstream directors find a place in the industry.
• What makes a great director or film?
• How have film editing trends changed over time and how have they influenced the industry?
• How did companies like MGM and Paramount gain so much power in the industry?
• How has the funding system for movie making changed since the birth of the industry?
• What did the actors have to do to successfully transfer from silent to sound films?